


Some Friendly Advice

by Quingy



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Kissing, Sexy Solas, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-26 02:02:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7555819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quingy/pseuds/Quingy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asharil decides to change her appearance after a conversation with Vivienne. Solas is quick to take notice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Friendly Advice

It was a lot to take in, so many humans who spoke of Asharil and Andraste in the same breath. Since arriving at Skyhold, everywhere she went she noticed people whispering, bowing, or going so far as to call out to her. 

The guards greeted her with a curt, “Inquisitor.” But they had the same look in their eyes as the pilgrims, that fierce belief in her actions. As if she were divine herself and beyond mortal failings.

Everyday it seemed one of her inner circle informed her of how much she meant to the world, how much her actions inspired, and how infallible she needed to be to live up to expectations.

She'd gotten closer to Vivienne since arriving at Skyhold, and she valued the older mages’ advice on how to wield her power.

After a discussion on Ash’s need to change her appearance, she took the other woman's words to heart. The next morning when she left her chambers, all heads followed her, their conversations abruptly abandoned at the sight of her.

Asharil’s long hair, which she had previously let flow loose to her shoulders, with only a single braid on one side, now had been done up in intricate knots, the way the other girls of the clan had taught her to braid her hair as a child. She had also discussed her colouring with Vivienne, before selecting a bright red shade for her lips, some pink powder for her cheeks to highlight the tattoos there, and only a little dark powder on her eyelids.

The effect of the change did not downplay her Dalish nature, instead it highlighted her natural elven beauty in a way that seemed to both enthrall and intimidate humans. Vivienne could not contain her praise for Ash’s efforts.

There was another person who turned out to be less pleased with the changes. 

Solas saw her for the first time speaking with Vivienne in the great hall one evening. As soon as he entered the hall, Ash turned to look at him. She saw the look in his eyes in the instant he laid them on her, even if he had quickly guarded it. She took a step towards him and he frowned, at her next step he turned and vanished down the passage to the gardens.

Mumbling an excuse she knew had been seen through to Vivienne, she hurried after him.

When she arrived in the gardens, she found them empty of the day-time parishioners. A couple scattered priests and soldiers claimed the benches in the alcoves, but the garden itself stood still.

Asharil spotted Solas’ silhouette in the gazebo, and made her way towards him.

He watched her approach with a steady gaze, and suddenly she felt uneasy. He alone of everyone in Skyhold could always look at her and see the person, see Asharil, not the Inquisitor or Andraste’s chosen hero. 

She adored him for it, but after their kiss in the fade they had decided to be just friends. He had seemed conflicted about her, and Asharil didn't need more conflict in her life right now. Since then he had acted as a friend and guide, and nothing in his actions spoke of the kiss they had shared. She had nearly convinced herself her interest was one-sided, until she saw the look in his eyes he had tried to hide when he first spotted her.

Solas spoke before she had reached the gazebo, his voice so low she knew the humans in the courtyard would not be able to hear him. “You are beautiful, Lethallan,” he murmured. “You possess the kind of beauty I believed could only be found in the fade, and I don't mean because of the powder on your face or the way you did your hair today.”

Unconsciously, Ash lifted a hand to her extravagant hairstyle. “Vivienne gave me some advice about inspiring with my appearance,” she muttered, self-conscious under his scrutiny.

Solas closed the distance between them with  typical grace, reaching out to cup her cheek with one hand, “And you did not think your previous beauty sufficed? Did you see the reactions you received today? Vivienne’s fondest dreams are to be on the receiving end of that kind of worship,” his voice had dropped low enough to make her shiver. His lips quirked ever so slightly as he watched her reaction, until he abruptly dropped his hand from her face and stepped back. “My apologies, Inquisitor. That was...not the kind of behaviour one normally attributes to a friend.”

“Solas,” she teased, her words holding back gentle laughter, “I'm not sure there is anything I expect to be “normal” when it comes to you.”

This time, when his gaze melted upon her, she closed the gap between them and brushed her lips to his. Gently, as she had in the fade. She was prepared to step back, and have Solas excuse himself, but instead his lips on hers were suddenly focused and deliberate. He kissed her with the kind of expertise she had been trying to delude herself into believing he didn't possess. She moaned, a low, pleasured noise as his hands on her back roamed lower, rounding the curve of her hips and gripping them tightly.

“Wait. Stop,” she managed to say, pushing against Solas’ chest lightly, he stepped back with a question in his eyes, and she tilted her head in the direction of the alcoves, where more than one set of eyes could be felt on her.

Solas’ brows drew together and he sighed.

Asharil chucked softly and began to slowly back away from him. “I guess I'll see you later,  _ friend. _ ” She arched an eyebrow and smirked at him, enjoying her last look at him before she turned her back, and knowing that his intense gaze followed her out.

  
  



End file.
